EPAMINONDAS 

Copyright (c) 1963 Robert Abbott

Epaminondas is a two player game played on a 12x14 square board.

This is the initial setup:

 
  • PHALANX - A Phalanx is an unbroken line of one or more friendly stones on any orthogonal or diagonal direction.
    • A Phalanx may have friendly or enemy neighbors, there are no restrictions on its adjacent cells.
  • MOVE - Stones move on phalanxes forward or backward along its length.
    • The move range is up to the number of stones on the Phalanx.
    • Phalanxes never move sideways!
    • A single stone is a Phalanx of size 1, and so can move to any adjacent cell.
  • CAPTURING - If a Phalanx encounters, while its moving, a smaller enemy Phalanx, the latter is captured and removed from the board.
    • The capturing Phalanx stops on the cell where was the first enemy captured stone.
  • GOAL - Wins the player that at the beginning of his turn, has more stones on his last rank, than the opponent has.
 
Some examples

Black has two major Phalanxes, one diagonal and one horizontal. If Black moves to cell [2] (preparing a stronger attack against the White diagonal), he can suffer an attack from the stronger horizontal White Phalanx on the right (and so loose all 3 stones). He then must move the lower stone to [1] in order to defend his position.

This game began life as "Crossings". Invented in 1963, the rules were first published in Sid Sackson's "Gamut of Games" in 1969. At that time, the was played on an 8 x 8 checker board. When the game was revised & published in 1975, the board was increased to a 12 x 14 grid. This edition of the game was privately published by Bob Abbott. The game board is a mahogany stain wood board. There are 28 white pieces and 28 black pieces. Two spare black & white pieces are supplied by the inventor. The game was also release in England and Germany. The English set published by Philmar Ltd. is pictured below. It too has 4 spare pieces. In the US, the game was only available from the inventor. Bob Abbott laments that the British publisher got the equipment "all out of proportion".

The game is named after Epaminondas, the Theban Leader who invented the phalanx. He used the formation to defeat the Spartans in 371 B.C. The object is to advance your game pieces to your opponents back row. If on your turn, you have more of your game pieces on your opponents back row than your opponent has on your backrow, you win.

Players take alternating turns moving an individual piece or a group of pieces (phalanx). Individual pieces can be moved 1 space in any direction, (up, down, left, right, or diagonally. A phalanx is two or move pieces in a straight line (horizontal, vertical, or diagonal). A phalanx can be moved in a straight line a maximum number of spaces equal to the number if pieces in the phalanx. The phalanx must be moved the same direction it is pointing. A phalanx can capture a single enemy piece or a smaller enemy phalanx. When capturing, the phalanx stops on the first square of the enemy phalanx and removes the entire enemy phalanx. Part of a phalanx can be moved during a turn, however, the maximum movement is the number of spaces is equal to the total number of pieces moved in the phalanx.

Bob Abbott discusses his ideas on inventing abstract games with "clarity" in issue #36 of Games & Puzzles magazine (May 1975). [taken from here]

There is a ZRF to play Epaminondas . Epaminondas can also be played at Rognlie's server.

There is also an hexagonal variant called Heximondas by Keith Carter from 2002.

A similar new game from 2000 is Force , designed by Chris Huntoon. When reaching last rank, the stone is promoted and the goal is to reduce the opponent's army to less than two stones, or promote two of his own stones.

A mix with Abalone is Abanondas, by João Neto and Bill Taylor from 2006: Like Epaminondas but phalanxes may also make 1-step orthogonal/diagonal sideslips//orthogonal sidesteps, provided all target cells are empty. Diagonal phalanxes can only make orthogonal sideslips.

Game sample:
                               ooo          xxx
. . o o o o o o . . . .  1. g1.g2 - g4    l14.k15 - l12
. . . . . . . . . . . .  2. g3.g4 - f3    l12.l13 - k11
. . . . . . . . . . . .  3. f1.f4 - f3    j14 - k13
. . . . . . . . . . . .  4. f3.f6 - e3    k11.k15 - j10
. . . . . . . . . . o .  5. e2.e6 - d3    j10.j15 - j7
. . . . . . . . . x o .  6. k1.h1 - f1    j7.j12 - i6
. . . . . . . . . x o .  7. d2.d7 - c3    i6.i11 - i2:2
. . . . . . . . . x o .  8. l2.j2 - i2:1  b14.c15 - a13
. . . . . . . . . x o .  9. l1.k2 - i4:1  i5.i7 - i4:1
o . . . . . . . . x . . 10. i2.j2 - k2    i3.i6 - j4
o . . . . . . . . . . . 11. g1.h2 - j4:1  j5.j7 - j10
o . . . . . . . . . . . 12.    k2 - j1    j8.j10 - i9
o . . . . . . . . . . . 13. j1.j4 - j5    i14.i15 - i12
x . . . . . . . . . . . 14. c2.c8 - b3    b15 - c15
. . x x x x . . x x . . 15. b2.b9 - a10   i9.i13 - j9
                        16. a1.a10: a13:3 b14.h14 - a14
a b c d e f g h i j k l 17. ...(capturing 6 times )
                        23. i4.j4         g15.h15 - j15
                        24. j8.j4 - k9   j9.j13 - j6
                        25. b1.f1 - g1   resigns